Two Lives, One Journey
by Syvsn
Summary: Tsubasa finds herself spirited away by a careless spirit. She has to go on an adventure in the same world that Chihiro visited with only an arrogant guide to help her along the way. But she also ends up helping Kohaku with his quest, too.
1. Tsubasa

**Sorry in advance for switching in and out of past and present tenses. I wasn't really thinking about it and I'm too lazy to edit all of it. So sorry if you find these errors in the next few chapters. Enjoy :)**

**Reviews are nice, too. ^^  
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"Tsubasa! Stop playing in the garden. It's time for dinner." My mother yelled from the open door, waving me inside.

"One second!" I called out, watering the newly-planted seeds.

Ever since my family and I have moved here, this old garden I found in the backyard is the only friend I have right now. I've never had an interest in gardening or nature none-the-less. But something about this tiny plot of soil was special, magical almost. So, I told my parents I was going to plant some vegetables back here. Back in the city, we always got our food from the stores and never had the need, or space, to have a vegetable garden. There was a rosemary plant sitting in a small pot by the kitchen window, though, for 'emergency use.' Now that I think about it, I never did catch my mother using that rosemary. I always saw our cat, Haru, chewing at the stems. Or maybe Haru is the reason she never used it. I'm not sure, I guess either one works.

I stood up and brushed off my gloved hands. My clothes looked ruined and my knees were smudged with brownish black.

I groaned because I knew my mother was going to scold me. My father could care less; he's a care-free kind of guy, which I don't get why he would marry my mother who's so uptight most of the time. Maybe she wasn't always like this. I shook the thought out of my head and ran back to the house.

I pulled off my shoes and socks before coming inside and made my way to the bathroom quickly. Towel in hand, I washed my face and knees fiercely to get off the dirt that was caked on. After, I ran to my room and changed into different clothes and brushed the hair out of my face.

There was a knock on my door and I opened it to find my little sister standing there with her hands on her hips. She was tapping her foot on the ground and giving me the come-to-dinner-now-or-else-mom-will-blow-her-top look. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Aika usually tried acting like mom, sometimes even scarier looking. Although, the quality of the act was always between okay and a standing ovation.

"Sorry, I just had to get cleaned up first. I'm coming, okay?"

"Enough with the excuses. Let's go, missy."

"Mhmm."

How she amuses me so.

We walked to the dining room and sat down. The rest of the night, well, my mother wouldn't stop nagging me about being late for dinner. At least I didn't come in covered with germs.

The next morning, I woke up early for school and then told everyone else in the house to get up, too. I took a shower and made everyone breakfast PLUS their lunches. I ate quickly before anyone even got to the table and decided to spend the next half hour studying to keep my mind off things, even though I already learned this stuff back home.

My goal was to actually stop thinking about another horrible day at school. I mean social-wise, not educational-wise. My mother might actually give me a lecture on going to school for the lessons and not for friends - not that I have any friends here – for evening thinking this – not that I have anyone to tell.

We only moved here because my father's company is opening a new office near the country. I think it's pretty nice out here, but I would never have agreed to come if I knew how lonely it would be. Of course, we'd come here anyway, my objection or not.

Aika is definitely making more friends than me, that's for sure. Every night before we go to sleep, she talks about her friends and how wonderful it was to move here. And I can't even escape the chatter since we have to share a room. I guess I can live – it's not like I'm dead right now.

"Mom! I'm going to go to school early! Where did you put my bike?" I shout throughout the house, too lazy to go find her whereabouts. I start packing up my books and find my shoes sitting by the back door.

She shouts back at me, apparently too lazy this morning, also. "It's sitting right next to–"

I spot the blue handles as I open the door. "Found it! Thanks, bye!"

I straddle my bike that I got for my birthday last year and see my dad come up to the doorway.

"Thanks for the lunch, Tsubasa. It looks delicious." He smiles at me.

"At least someone appreciates my work around here." My dad smirks and I let out a small laugh. "See you later."

I kick off with my bike and struggle a bit to get it going on the grass. I quickly get the handle of it and turn around the corner to get to the front. I make my way down the pathway and onto the small, rocky road.

"Ah, freedom." I sigh contentedly and breathe in the fresh air. I let my arms up like I'm flying and keep my legs peddling. At first, I was an expert at the look-ma!-no-hands thing on the smooth city streets but when I got here, the craggily path threw me off in a second. I didn't give up though. After a week's worth of hard work, I got it down pat.

I pulled up in the school parking lot in twenty minutes and locked my bike at the rack securely. I saw another girl just getting to school, too. I believed her name is Chihiro. From what I've seen, she's the quiet but strong type. Her presence is incredible but it seems that no one is really her friend, just mere acquaintances.

"Hey! You're Chihiro, right?" I ran up to her and she looked at me, surprised.

I decided that I'm going to try to make friends with her. I mean, how long am I going to stay friend-less in this place? And it looks like she needs a real friend, too.

"Yeah, I am. And you're the new girl." She gave me a small smile.

"Sure am."

She looked at the floor as we walked into the building. "So, how do you like it here?"

"It's really nice. Definitely not like Tokyo but it's grown on me."

"I was upset when I moved here four years ago. It took a lot for me to like it." Her eyes glazed over and she looked almost distant.

"I didn't know you were the new girl once, too. Huh, what made you change your mind?"

Chihiro stopped walking and looked back at me warmly. "Let's just say that a journey takes a long way."

Cryptic, much? Oh well. At least she turned out nice.

"Oh. Well, do you maybe want to hang out later? I don't know anyone else around here."

"Sure. I'd love to." She grinned at me.

Has anyone in this town even tried to become this girl's friend?

"Great. I'll give you my address at lunch and then you can come around whenever you can. As long as it's after 3:30 because I need to tell my family you're coming over first. And don't worry; they'll let you stay over because they know I've been having a hard time making friends here." I rambled on like a complete loser.

"Cool." Chihiro didn't seem to notice though. "I need to go to the library first after school anyway. I guess I can ask to call my parents with the school's phone while I'm at it to tell them where I'm going. They won't mind, either."

The day didn't go nearly as slow knowing that I had somewhat of a friend now.


	2. Spirited Away

**Yay, chapter two. Ignore switching pretenses. I promise I'll be more aware next time. Enjoy :)**

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After school, I rushed home in fifteen minutes.

"Hey, mom. I have a question."

"What is it?"

"I invited a friend over to hang out."

She stopped chopping up vegetables for dinner and looked at me curiously.

"Since when did you have a friend?"

"Mom!"

"I'm just kidding. Sure, I'd love to meet your friend. Of course, you should check with your father, too."

She continued her cooking and I found my dad in his office on the only computer in the house.

"Dad, a friend is coming over soon."

"Okay, whatever you say." My dad said, probably not knowing what he was agreeing to since he was typing something up.

"Thanks. Love ya."

"Yeah, uh huh."

I ran out to the backyard to check on my garden and found Aika hovering over it.

"What are you doing, Aika?" I looked over her shoulder to make sure she didn't ruin anything.

"I'm waiting for the plants to grow." She sat stubbornly on the ground.

"I don't think that's going to happen with you staring them down like that. Why don't you go inside and help mom in the kitchen while you wait. I'll help them grow a bit for a few minutes and then come inside. Did you know a friend of mine is coming over?"

"Who's your friend? I want to meet her!" She jumped up with delight. She loves new friends.

"Her name is Chihiro, and if I don't come back in by the time she's here, call for me. Okay?"

"Okay." Aika ran back to the house.

I observed the garden closely. Still no sign of growing. Oh well.

"Well, don't just sit there. Make them grow." A condescending voice came from behind me and I turned around.

A boy, a little older than me, was standing there. He had a smirk on his face and eyes of a predator.

"Who are you? What are you doing back here?" My voice shook a little but I was determined to give this boy a piece of my mind.

"Name's Satoshi. Pleasure to meet you – well, sort of anyway." He chuckled and started circling my garden.

"I still don't know why you're on my family's property."

"Simple. I'm the garden's spirit. Haven't you guessed already?" He has a grin plastered on his face.

"A spirit? How do I know you're not just a boy from my school playing a cruel trick on the new girl?"

"Like this." The spirit dissolved into thin air.

"Where did you go?" I screamed in a slight panic.

"Right here." He appeared, chin resting on my shoulder.

"Would you stop playing these games with me?! I've had enough. I'm going back inside." I huffed angrily and started making my way back to the house.

"Now, now, Tsubasa. Let's not get angry. How about I take you on a little trip? It'll be relaxing."

I stopped walking. "I don't have time for 'a little trip.' I have a friend coming over right now."

"Maybe your friend will want to come along." Satoshi whispered into my ear and I turned around violently to swipe him away but he was gone.

"No! And if you don't go away soon, I'm going to call the police." I turned back around on my heels and started walking again.

"If you do, who will believe that I even exist? Hm? I can appear and disappear at will. I can even take you to the spirit world if I wanted to." His voice followed me but he was invisible.

"Stop lying!" I hissed angrily.

"If you don't believe me, then I'll just have to take you there."

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I woke up on the most comfortable bed I've ever laid in. I felt groggy and hungry and had no clue to where I was. The ceiling was slanted and came to a point in the middle, giving me a hint that I was probably in the attic. I sat up and looked around. It looked like a regular bedroom but had a bed-and-breakfast feel about it. Everything was neat and put away nicely. All the furniture was made of wood and was craftily detailed beautifully. The lace curtains were drawn but I could tell it was dark out.

I saw a glass of water on the wooden bed stand and took a sip of it, making my sore throat feel a lot better.

Then I remembered what had happened. I was supposedly talking to a garden spirit. It seemed very mischievous but playful, too. And it said that he was going to take me to the spirit world. Is that where I am now? No, it can't be. But what other explanation is there?

There was a sharp knock on the door.

"Um, come in." I spoke, a little too hoarsely.

It opened and the boy came in, smiling cheerfully.

"Good evening. You finally woke up. Didn't know taking you here would knock you out like that."

"You! You took me here! Why?! I said I didn't want to come!" I yelled at him, tears threatening to spill over the rim of my eyes.

"Yeah, but you didn't believe that I was a spirit."

"What a foolish spirit you are."

"A foolish spirit? Me? Why, I'm the cleverest spirit here!"

"I did believe you were a spirit, with all that disappearing and appearing stuff you were doing. Did you maybe think I just didn't want to talk to you?" I got out of the bed, realizing that I was changed into different clothing.

"Yes, I did consider that, but who wouldn't want to talk to a spirit?" He grinned widely.

I groaned and fell back onto the bed. "Please, can you just take me back to my world?"

"Sorry, I can't do that exactly."

I jerked back up. "What do you mean you can't?"

"I can bring you here, sure. But I don't know how to get you back. You see, I'm not very clever with that stuff."

"If you aren't clever with that stuff, you might as well be not clever at all!" I'm sure steam was coming out of my ears. "Can you at least point me in the direction of someone who can get me back? I need to get back right now! My friend was coming over. Oh no, it's dark out. She probably left by now and my parents must be worried."

"Well, in terms of getting back to the human world, you could try Yubaba, or better yet, Zeniba! Yubaba might eat you alive if she sees another human running around here. Zeniba is much nicer, even though they're twin sisters. And don't worry about your family. I got it under control." The boy sat down on a chair and put his feet up on a chest.

"You better have it under control. If not, I'm going to kill your garden once I get back!"

"Let's not get hasty now. Anyway, I can take you to one of them if you like."

"Oh really? This isn't another trick, is it?"

"Nope. We can take the train. Of course, the train only runs in Zeniba's direction. We can fly over to Yubaba's bath house later, if necessary."

"The train? Isn't there a faster way?"

"Not at the moment."

"But you said we could fly to Yubaba!"

"Yes, but I was thinking Zeniba could help us with that."

"How useless can you get?!"

Something about the boy's face changed. It was smug or mischievous or even playful. It was like… I had hurt his feelings.

"Look I'm sorry… I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it all the time. Um, the house keeper put your clothes in that drawer over there. Don't wear them though. Just keep them with you."

"Where do I get other clothes to wear then? The ones I'm wearing looking like night clothes." I looked myself up and down.

"In the other drawer. Duh." He chuckled. "There's also a pair of shoes downstairs for you. Meet me outside when you're done."

"Thanks. You know, you're not so bad, Satoshi." I smiled at him.

"Tsubasa." He tipped his head off to me and left the room.


End file.
